Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

(asked on 8th February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting people from sanctions if there is evidence of severe mental health or associated risk of self harm.


Answered by
Chloe Smith Portrait
Chloe Smith
This question was answered on 21st February 2022

Those who are not expected to look for work, such as those with severe health conditions, including mental health, are not subject to work search or work availability requirements.

Work Coaches engage at an individual level with them and are committed to tailoring support for specific individual needs, including agreeing realistic and structured steps to encourage claimants into or towards the labour market where conditionality requirements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate for the claimant. This would include tailoring to reflect any mental health or associated self-harm issues the claimant raised.

Sanctions are only applied where a claimant fails to comply with a mandatory requirement set out in their claimant commitment such as a failure to attend an appointment. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.

Reticulating Splines